Honestly, and I know that I say versions of this all the time, but the last thing I needed was to get addicted to a $29 root touch-up spray in a tiny 0.7-oz. bottle, but it is what it is!

When your hair reaches that point when you really, really, REALLY should’ve gotten your roots done a week ago (or…a month ago), but your next salon appointment is still two weeks away, and then you spray this on your roots, and essentially see your hair revert back to its pre-rooty-root glory days in less than 30 seconds right before your eyes, it’s magical.

Oops! There goes another quarter into the beauty product-related swear jar (I don’t actually have one of those, but sometimes I think I should).

Seriously, Oribe, why’d you have to make me fall in love with your Dry Texturizing Spray when you knew the last thing I needed in my life right now was another bank-breaking hairstyling product?

How rude!

Cue Beauty Wayback Machine. Destination: one month ago…

Spinning.

Spinning.

Spinning.

BAM! Bright light, aaaaaand, we’re here. 🙂

It’s mid August, 2014.

I’m just about to haul my cookies out of the salon after getting my roots touched up when I realize that I need (“need,” air quotes) a small travel-size bottle of dry shampoo to bring with me on my upcoming trip to LA (it was still upcoming at the time), so I ask mini Stevie Nicks (which is my inside voice nickname for the gal who works behind the front desk counter, on account of the witchy, floaty outfits she’s always wearing) for a recommendation. She points me to Oribe’s Dry Texturizing spray with the following caveat: “You gotta be down with grit. If you want smooth and silky, you’ll need something else.”

Since I am down with grit (I think), I grab the small 2.2-oz. Purse Size for $21.50.

As I hand mini Stevie Nicks my credit card and the bottle, I hear my penny-pinching mother’s voice in my head. “Hooey, put that down! Let’s go to Rite Aid instead and get an extra large bottle of Aqua Net for $2.”

I do my best to ignore her. “I cannot get addicted to this,” I tell myself, walking out the door. If the little bottle is $21, I don’t even want to think about how much the big bottle costs (side note: it’s $42).

This stuff is kinda magical. It does a little bit of everything, too, and it does it all well.

As a dry shampoo — I use Dry Texturizing spray between washes to absorb oil and refresh my janky-smelling roots. Like the other Oribe products I’ve tried, it smells elegant and expensive, like a light yet complex jasmine floral perfume.

As a finishing spray — Whenever I curl my hair, I spray Dry Texturizing on the middle sections and the ends for shine, hold, bounce and texture.

As a root lifter — When I spray it on my roots, ERMAHGOD! The volume is volcanic. Its lift is the stuff of legends. I’m talking big frickin’ hair, man.

On top of everything else, it also includes UV filters to protect color-treated hair against sun damage.

I experienced, not one, but two major revelations in that class on Oribe hairstyling products earlier today at Corte Madera’s Fox + Stone Salon.

The first, how to pronounce the word, “Oribe.”

Oh-ree-bay? Or-rib-bay? Oh-ruh-hibe?

This is where I get my hair done! Fox + Stone Salon in Corte Madera, California.

Turns out it’s OR-bay! — she said, her eyes widening to the size of saucers when she heard Northern California Brand Manager Karen Kerr pronounce it.

I swear the clouds parted when I heard it, LOL!

Karen was there at the salon to teach the stylists there about Oribe’s products, and I was invited, along with two other ladies, to be a hair model.

Which brings me to the second revelation I mentioned — that I now know what it feels like to be a puppy at a dog park, because there was a lot of petting going on…and by that I mean that the stylists in the class were instructed to repeatedly touch my hair and that of the other models.

Yup, another one to cross off ye olde bucket list. 🙂 “Have 20 people touch my hair in one day.” Check.

Three Hair Models, Three Hairstyles

There were three separate stations, one for each of the models, among which the stylists would move to play with the products on each person’s hair.

There were three hair themes — Curl Power, Full-Blown Bombshell (which I was desperately hoping to be picked for, not gonna lie) and Big, Bold and Beautiful, which was the theme I was assigned.

Big, Bold and Beautiful

My hair’s job was to sit there and showcase three products from Oribe’s line — their Foundation Mist, Creme for Style and Maximista Thickening Spray.

Oribe’s recipe for Big, Bold and Beautiful hair

I use Oribe’s Shampoos and Conditioners at home and have had really good luck with them, so it was interesting to learn more about the products, the best ways to use them and what makes them tick.

Step 1: Wash and Condition

After washing my mop with Oribe’s Shampoo for Brilliance and Shine ($46) and Conditioner for Beautiful Color ($42), they sat me in my chair and went to work.

Step 2: Prep With Foundation Mist

Oribe’s Foundation Mist ($24) works kind of like a makeup primer for your hair. I found out that it’s not really designed for hold, but rather to prepare hair for styling by evening out the texture of every strand from root to end.

My stylist buddy Alis, who works at the salon and invited me today, explained it like this: sometimes hair has natural dips in the strands, which are like potholes. Foundation Mist does something called “evening out the porosity,” which means that it fills in those potholes, turning the strands into one long, smooth road.

With the strands filled in, any styling products layered on top apply more smoothly and evenly, and basically perform better.

From the left: Foundation Mist, Creme for Style and Maxinista

On top of that, Foundation Mist also offers UV protection, which is particularly helpful for color-treated hair.

To use it, just spray it all over your hair, from roots to ends, and don’t be afraid to saturate those strands!

Step 3: Condition With Creme for Style

After prepping my hair with Foundation Mist, the stylists worked in Oribe’s Creme for Style ($38), a creamy leave-in conditioner ideal for thick, heavy hair.

Layering is an important part of the Oribe philosophy, and this lightweight cream adds firm, yet flexible, hold and volume, among other things. You can apply it to either wet or dry hair, curly or straight, for shine, separation and body. It’s also great for giving extra oomph and structure to blowouts.

The stylists squeezed a pearl-sized amount into one of their palms and rubbed their hands together to thin and distribute the product, which they then applied from the mid-shaft, all the way to the ends. Whatever was left over, they ran through my hair at the crown of my head.

Creme for Style also conditions hair, and like Foundation Mist, it provides UV protection.

Step 4: Crank Up the Volume With Maxinista Finishing Spray

Next came the blow dryers! Two stylists dried my hair until it was about 80 percent done. Then it was time for the finishing touches with a round brush and the final product for my big, bold and beautiful look, volumizing Maxinista Thickening Spray ($28), which is used to create BIG volume, like the kind you see in big, puffed-out, blow-dried hair.